Amazon is looking for people to produce original TV content

In the highly competitive world of digital streaming, where everyone can pretty much get access to the same slate of popular content and offer it at pretty much the same price, there's a strong need to create something new and differentiated. Hulu has been trying to set itself apart not only by offering much more timely TV content but also creating a bold initiative on making its own Web shows that are available exclusively on Hulu. It looks like Amazon wants to take a page out of that book.

Amazon is still very much the new kid on the block when it comes to streaming. Even though a year of Amazon Prime is cheaper than a year of Netflix, and the volume of movies and TV shows is comparable, it's tough to compete against the well defined leader in the market. So these new job postings on Amazon.com are pretty interesting. Specifically, the jobs are for Amazon's "People Production Company."

One of the listings is for a VP of Series Development, which lists responsibilities like asessing pilot proposals, working with writers and artists, staffing and casting new projects, and supervising series production. This idea of original content is also starting to break out in Netflix, as well as sponsored content on YouTube. Apparently, Amazon paid more than $2.5 million to develop potential pilots in 2011, but nothing made it to distribution. At least not yet.